happy

There are 2 posts tagged happy (this is page 1 of 1).

#97/111: The Last Lecture

What is it about?

If you haven’t heard about Randy Pausch, he was a computer science professor at the CMU and had pancreatic cancer. He hold his famous lecture about achieving one’s childhood dreams and told about his. 

What can I learn?

You choose to be happy or sad: Although he was diagnosed with pancreas cancer he was still optimistic. He could just cried all day long and complain about his faith. Or he could choose to enjoy his last months alive and that was was he did.

Live your dreams: I know some people that talk since a few years about doing some special, like migrating into an other country or switching their jobs. After some time a dream becomes some sort of utopia which will never reached but the dream about it will stay you motivated. That’s totally ok. A few dreams shouldn’t be lived. It’s just that you should look if there are opportunities to fulfill your dreams. It took Randy over 20 years to finally experience zero gravity but he has experienced it.

What would you do, if you knew that you will die in 12 months?

Conclusion

I enjoyed the book and his actual lecture. The book tells mostly about the lecture but there’s also additional narrations about his live before and after the lecture. Such a book makes one grateful of living without any serious illnesses. It inspired me and that’s in my opinion the greatest thing one person can do.

#63/111: Fish!

What is it about?

You are now in charge of a team of discouraged people and your job is to increase their productivity. What would you do? Mary Jane, the fictive new manager, has gone to a fish market and learned why you can be productive and happy despite having a exhausting job.

What can I learn?

Choose your attitude: You chose your future and how you will experience it. If you truly decide to be energetic, you will be energetic. If you decide to be depressed, you will be depressed. You decide how you see the world.

Play: Work don’t have to be exhausting and depressing. Try to include some fun. You can make games out of the most boring activities. I have once worked on a really boring assignment where I had to check about 10,000 addresses per hand. I created some goals and tried to get faster from hour to hour. It wasn’t the greatest game ever played but at least I had some fun.

Make their day: Do something that will WOW others. You have always the opportunity to be outstanding. Can you finish a project sooner than announced? Can you do something remarkable for your customers? Just think and let your mind flow. I’m sure you know something.

Be present: There’s a Zen lore where a pupil asks his master why he is so happy. And the Zen master answers: “When I eat, I eat. When I walk, I walk. When I sleep, I sleep.” When I heard this the first time I thought that it was obvious. However, it isn’t. The key is to be present and do one thing. Don’t play with your kids and talk to the phone. Don’t read a book and watch TV.

Conclusion

Fish! is a nice book in an unusual setting. It’s really short, i.e. you can read it in 60-90 minutes. I don’t really have anything to criticize but also I’m not overly impressed. However, these principles are really valuable and if you haven’t implemented them yet, you probably should read this book and start making your life more livable.